THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
VIOLIST Paul Neubauer is philosophical about the relative paucity of material for his instrument.
``I think that probably with most instruments,'' he said by phone from his home in New York, ``you'd find that most people would wish there were more music in the repertoire. It would be wonderful if Brahms had written a viola concerto, or Dvorak.''
He chuckled and added, ``I don't think it's going to show up in attics at this point.''
Neubauer, who will play Friday and Saturday night at Chrysler Hall as part of the Virginia Symphony's Classical Masterworks series and Monday evening at ODU's Chandler Recital Hall, is, at 32, one of the world's most celebrated viola players.
A former member of the New York Philharmonic, he has long championed the sometimes overlooked viola as a subtle, supple contributor to music.
``I was 7 when I started on viola, so I don't think I realized how people looked at it then,'' he said. ``All I knew was that my godfather played the viola and my brother and sister played the violin and cello.''
Symphony music director JoAnn Falletta, who will conduct at Chrysler Hall, praised the ``dignity and virtuosity'' of Neubauer's playing.
``I've done a lot of the viola repertoire with him,'' Falletta said. ``Most of the times I've played one of the pieces, I've started with Paul, done it with him first. It kind of spoils me.''
Along with bringing the viola to the fore, Neubauer has also shed light on some seldom-heard works.
``There are certainly pieces that are on my (repertoire) list that I'd like to play more,'' he said, citing Vaughan Williams' ``Flos Compi.''
``I don't think there's very much Vaughan Williams played, at least not anymore,'' Neubauer said. ``This is an incredibly gorgeous piece for viola, chorus and orchestra. It doesn't get programmed often because many orchestras don't have a chorus.''
Neubauer was intimately connected with the restoration of Bartok's Viola Concerto. It is on the Friday and Saturday Symphony programs, paired with versions of ``Romeo and Juliet'' by Tchaikovsky and Berlioz. He has performed the Bartok concerto a number of times since its debut in 1993 and will be part of its New York unveiling at Lincoln Center in November.
``I know this piece backward and forward,'' he said. ``I was involved in this all along, in various aspects. I'm very comfortable with it.''
``The way I like to look at it is, as much as possible, to see exactly what the composer wrote,'' he explained of his working method. ``In the case of the Bartok concerto, it's going right back to what the composer wrote.
``Sometimes that's impossible, because a manuscript doesn't exist or it's locked in some library somewhere, but then you find the closest thing.
``First, you want to strip away anything that anyone's added. I find that you're more convinced of your own interpretation if you've gotten rid of what has been added, what so-and-so decided was better than what the composer wrote. Other times, if something doesn't work, that is very wrong, you might have to change something.''
He said that ``usually, when you play a piece, you have to love it, so you're a little biased. If you have even a small doubt, you're not going to give the best performance.''
Still, ambivalence may creep in.
``Sometimes there's a bad piece,'' he said. ``Or it's a good piece but there are parts of it where you don't understand part of what the composer was trying to do, and you say, `Why did they write this?' On the other hand, someone else might look at it and say, `This is what the composer wrote, and I completely understand why he did this.' ''
And for all that, there is still an element of surprise.
``I think we are all individuals, and I think the composers didn't mean for us to play blandly,'' Neubauer concluded. ILLUSTRATION: J. HENRY FAIR
Paul Neubauer has brought the viola to the fore.
CONCERT FACTS
Who: Paul Neubauer, with the Virginia Symphony
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Chrysler Hall, Norfolk
Tickets: $17 to $40; student, senior and military discounts
available. Call 623-2310.
Neubauer also will perform as part of the F. Ludwig Diehn Concert
Series at 8 p.m. Monday at ODU's Chandler Recital Hall, Diehn Fine
and Performing Arts Center, Norfolk. 683-4061.
by CNB